Heidi Sharp is a managing partner with the Sharp Firm in Clinton Township. Her practice concentrates on representing individuals in employment law and civil rights violations. She took some time to talk to John and me about how she has adjusted her practice to handle working from home and a sudden surge in potential new clients. Please note that we recorded our interview before Governor Whitmer signed Executive Order 2020-41, allowing electronic signatures and remote witnessing, notarization, and visitation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Transcript:
John: Hello, this is John Swift.
Max: And this is Max Matthies.
John: We're two of the staff attorneys at ICLE. We're talking to other Michigan attorneys about how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting them and their clients.
Max: We thought it might be helpful to share how our colleagues and their firms are responding to the COVID crisis and provide some insight on how you might do the same.
Heidi: Hi, I'm Heidi Sharp from the Sharp Firm in Clinton Township, Michigan. I practice employment law. My side is with employees. Most of my work is with employees who have questions or concerns about things that happened at their job, whether they've been terminated or they're still employed. So that's what I do.
Max: Great, Heidi. Thank you so much for doing this with us. We really appreciate your time.
Heidi: Yeah, of course.
Max: Let's start with Governor Whitmer’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order. It has a lot of people scrambling. I'm wondering, what has your firm done to respond to this?
Heidi: I have a firm of five attorneys and a support staff. What we did is we essentially went home—we had had an idea that this would be coming. We're all really cognizant of how important it was to socially distance because of COVID-19. And we had already put in place some things in our office. For example, almost two weeks prior we had said no clients in the office, no interactions, we switched to phone interviews or phone consults, things like that. We use Zoom or other ways that people are comfortable. And so when the order was clear what was going to happen, we were pretty much ready. We had everybody's laptop ready to go and everybody's equipment. We had a firm meeting about what to expect and how we do things. And then we headed home. And the next morning, we got started. And we're at the point where we're now all working from home and communicating via all of these cool things that we know about—Zoom and our Internet, and other team chats, things like that.
Max: What about your clients? Have they responded?
Heidi: My clients don't seem to notice a difference, I’ll have to say. So every day our company phone is forwarded to one of our staff cell phones and then they take messages pretty much like usual, and they get them to the attorneys or whoever they need. The only thing that's different that a client might notice is that they can't instantly say, “Oh, yes. Such and such is working in the office right now. Let me transfer you over to them.” So we just call them back. And other than that, you know, there hasn't been any like, “Oh, are you still working?” I think they know we're there for this. And they know we're always going to be there for them. So it's been great.
John: What about their cases though? I mean, have their cases kind of stalled to some extent? Are they moving forward?
Heidi: Yeah, that's definitely the hard part. So all of us have pending litigation—client files, currently in state and federal court in various stages of litigation. I had three trials that are clearly going to be moved now, and cases that were just started. Every stage you can imagine throughout our firm. Most of it is in a general standstill. While we can accomplish some work, I'm doing as much discovery as I can from home and get that responded to. We do know that there's going to be lots of delays and we're understanding on both sides. If we can do things, we'll get it done. And if we can't, you know, each and every client, I've explained it to. They completely understand but they are also, of course, living through this with all of us. And they know that we're going to do the best we can for them to get them back on track as soon as we can.
John: So you're working remote, as you mentioned. How is that? Like, how are you handling it? Do you have lessons that you've learned that you think other attorneys might benefit from?
Heidi: I, personally, am okay. And it's good. And so to kind of give you an idea of my setup, right now I'm sitting and we did have a home office, which was not really used for the consistent office work that you'd imagine. But what I did on the first day is I want a true space to get work done. I want to try and get in that mode. So I've got a new table that we put in here, and I've got the laptop. I’ve got a second screen. I've got papers and, you know, it kind of looks like a mini office space. And that really helps me. And I would suggest that for everybody. Don't pop open your laptop every day in a new place and tell your kids, “Hey, be quiet.” Because your kids want a schedule and you want a schedule. You used to get up, work out, take a shower, go to work, and you'd sit there and you knew what your day was going to be. So try and set your day out in a way that is similar to what you used to do. And if you take breaks, you get to take them this time with, you know, if you have kids at home, you could take them with your kids and try and enjoy that time. And then go back to it as soon as you can, and accomplish those things during the day. One of the other things I set for myself is I try not to respond to lots and lots of work emails at night just because I'm here and I'm living it all the time—to give myself that structure and that break.
John: That's good advice. That's very good advice.
Max: John and I both have kids and we are just trying to balance the work with the kids is also really hard.
Heidi: The kids know something's different. They want to be in school. They don't want to be here. Everybody's kids, of course, at home are different ages. Some are like probably older teenagers who might be on video games and/or playing outside. And that works for them. Me, personally, I have very small children. They're two and six. And so they need some sort of constant attention and watching. And for my situation, my partner, my husband and I are both lawyers. We are in practice together at the Sharp Firm. And so what we've done by structuring ourselves is we essentially schedule so today I said I'd be on the phone with you guys. So it's his turn to make sure they don't come running into the room, you know, at this minute. Later on, I'll do some work with our first grader and maybe do some puzzles with the little one, and that'll be his turn to get a whole bunch of stuff done uninterrupted.
Max: That's a great plan. So you're open for business and I'm wondering, ICLE has been getting some inquiries from solo and small firms, just sort of concerned about how to keep their doors open. Do you have any recommendations on how to keep a practice successful and working during this time?
Heidi: So this is super tough. For me, employment law has exploded. And I am, you know—right up to the minute before I got on the phone with you guys—answering phone calls from potential clients who have concerns about keeping their job, going to work, unemployment, all of these issues. While they might not all have claims that we would sign up, they are inquiries we want to respond to. Other attorneys, I know that they're not in that place. I've spoken with attorneys who said, “What am I going to do right now? For example, I can't do estates and wills and trusts because I can't sit across from somebody and have them sign it. What I would suggest is to use this as a time of marketing. So get out, you know. If you've been needing to update your website, update your website. If you've been meaning to put information out there about who you are and what you do, do it. Be that source of information. You're going to take some calls that aren't necessarily current clients, or will be potential clients. But I always see phone calls as twofold. One, they might have a claim, and maybe they might be a client. But attorneys provide a service to the community. We're the defenders of the Constitution, right? So everybody wants to come to us when there's a concern. And if you're the person who's on the phone during a crisis, saying, “Yes, let me provide you some information.” Or “Here's something I can do for you at this time.” Even if they might not become a client you can sign up and they can provide a retainer, it may be a claim in the future or their relative maybe. I would suggest if that's not something that you can do, if there's other areas of practice you haven't worked in before. There's lots of people who can't work from home right now. Maybe their childcare situation is different and they don't have a partner and they have work that they could pass off to you and at an hourly basis. So I think it's really time to explore your community, your contacts, your networks, and see what else is out there for you if you need to. And dig down into what you do and what you do best and make sure that you're ready and able to handle it remotely as that work comes along.
Max: Well, that's some great advice. Thank you so very much, Heidi. We're going to wrap it up here. And again, John and I are very appreciative of your time.
Heidi: Yeah, no problem.